Eau Claire Market Redevelopment | 135.02m | 35s | Harvard Developments

Rating of the development

  • 1 Really Good

    Votes: 13 25.5%
  • 2 Not Bad

    Votes: 11 21.6%
  • 3 So So

    Votes: 15 29.4%
  • 4 Not Good

    Votes: 9 17.6%
  • 5 Terrible

    Votes: 3 5.9%

  • Total voters
    51
Apparently dead as is, but maybe come back as a new redevelopment with an LRT station? Someone mentioned this in the green line thread. I don't think it's a bad idea.
 
Apparently dead as is, but maybe come back as a new redevelopment with an LRT station? Someone mentioned this in the green line thread. I don't think it's a bad idea.

The article said that it is paused until the Green Line station plan is decided. Looking back at the quote, it looks like they may have had a heads up that a surface alignment was coming back.

Rosanne Hill Blaisdell, managing director and chief operating officer for Harvard Developments, said the company is unable to move ahead until it knows what the city’s plan is for a proposed CTrain station in Eau Claire, part of the Green Line, which is expected to be complete in 2026.

“If there’s a property requirement that includes our site, and I say if, then it will impact how we phase our development,” Blaisdell said in an interview. “So, we really need to have that information.”
 
No development related but NIMBY related!


I don't agree with Druh Farrell saying that more needs to be done on consulting the people first. If an event can show that it meets bylaw criteria and are willing to pay the money, not spreading hate speech they should be allowed to hold their events. Who moves downtown for quiet?
 
No development related but NIMBY related!


I don't agree with Druh Farrell saying that more needs to be done on consulting the people first. If an event can show that it meets bylaw criteria and are willing to pay the money, not spreading hate speech they should be allowed to hold their events. Who moves downtown for quiet?

Everyone that lives in Eau Claire (except the Waterfront Towers) is pretty much a blue hair, 55+. They can turn down the hearing aid and let everyone else enjoy some vibrancy and events nearby. ;)
 
No development related but NIMBY related!


I don't agree with Druh Farrell saying that more needs to be done on consulting the people first. If an event can show that it meets bylaw criteria and are willing to pay the money, not spreading hate speech they should be allowed to hold their events. Who moves downtown for quiet?
I heard them interview a guy on the radio who said who moved down there to enjoy the quiet. Like really?
 
No development related but NIMBY related!


I don't agree with Druh Farrell saying that more needs to be done on consulting the people first. If an event can show that it meets bylaw criteria and are willing to pay the money, not spreading hate speech they should be allowed to hold their events. Who moves downtown for quiet?
I totally agree, noise is unavoidable. Especially for day time events, really anything should be fine within the bylaw and boundaries you outlined.

The only thing I would offer as a counter-point (and city centre resident) is that the city is still in it's infancy with respect to urban living and the disregard / obliviousness that people, bylaws, policies and enforcement agencies have really highlights this. We collectively haven't come to terms with what kind of interventions and seriousness of enforcing noise issues is required to support residents living nearby dense, popular areas and amenities. It's kind of like visitors to the city centre and City policies all never really considered people might actually live nearby. Every fire truck siren, car horn, drag race or car alarm at 3am in the Beltline wakes up 1,000x the people in Dalhousie.

Lots of pieces contribute to our loud city centre: high speed roads, lack of trees, discontinuous street walls, jerks in trucks purposely revving engines next to full patios, complete absence of enforcement of any kind etc. Policies, culture and enforcement will all have to shift (and probably will) to mitigate this stuff to become like many other big cities with more balanced city centre noise levels.
 
This is probably not a good sign:

Also interesting to note, at the same committee meeting today, there was also a confidential item to discuss the Westbrook TOD lands, however that item got referred to the next committee meeting, on November 20:

209844

 
This paves the way to a whole new plan, and they can now work in the new green line station into the plan. My vision would be a master plan right around where the station is going to be, and the other parcels of land around it broken up into smaller individual pieces.
 
Yeah. Harvard is sitting between a rock and a hard place. It would be disastrous to start this project now in the current economic environment. The right time would have been somewhere 2011 to 2014 but then they were up against a lot of community push back; and they could not get agreement with the city on a final concept. That whole process seemed to take way too long.
 
They purchased the Land in 2004, if they are not equipped to move on this project in either good or shaky economic climates, the land should be sold to a development group that has the expertise and deep enough pockets to take this over the finish line. Can anyone point to a project in Harvard's portfolio that shows they have a track record of ever completing an urban project of this magnitude? They don't, and haven't done one, they are from Regina. Harvard can pay for all the shiny renders they want, but I don't believe they have the ability to get this project finished. This is too important of a site to let languish for another decade. It should be sold to a group that could get this project done (read: Anthem, Concord Pacific, Westbank, Bosa, Shape Properties, etc). The City of Calgary should be looking to repurchase the land and sell it to a company that has a proven track record of completing projects of this scale and complexity. Would be willing to bet that company isn't headquartered in Regina, probably Vancouver. I have no hate on for Harvard whatsoever, if they can JV with a reliable partner on this and get it moving, all the power to them.
 

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